New Delhi: India’s non-playing Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal has come up with a clarification over his outburst against the Indian tennis community after India lost to Sweden in September. The Indian men’s tennis team suffered a 4-0 defeat in the World Cup Group I tie of the Davis Cup against an inexperienced Swedish side.
India recorded its sixth defeat against Sweden in the prestigious Davis Cup tournament. After the loss, a reporter asked Rajpal that many in the Indian tennis community questioned his credentials and believed that results would have been different if someone of Leander Paes or Somdev Devvarman’s stature was in his position.
Responding to his critics, the Indian captain asked his critics to ‘shut up’ and if they wanted to make any changes then they should turn up on the court rather than giving opinions from their house. The exact words of Rajpal during the press conference were as following:
“Since the time I took over, these guys have always been saying something negative to provoke or to get some reaction out of me. They (my players) are very welcome to say things, what they feel (to me). I am here for my country, ready to do whatever it takes. I am here to do my national duties.”
“All these people (critics), I want to say one thing to them: ‘SHUT UP’. First thing. And second thing, if you really care that much, don’t sit in your air-conditioned rooms and talk. Get out here and show what you can do. ”
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Two months later, the 54-year-old Rajpal has clarified on the ‘Shut Up’ remark and said that he is also part of the Indian tennis community. He admitted that he was provoked by the question and should have controlled himself back then.
“I am myself the Indian tennis community. I’m part of the association, I’m part of so many things. My life has been tennis. I can never even dream of something like this, to say shut up to the Indian community. Why would I do that?,” Rajpal told news agency PTI.
“I would never think of disrespecting somebody like that, but I should have also not reacted to even those three or four guys to be very honest. But the question was asked in such a bad manner and that also in front of my team sitting next to me I felt humiliated.”
“What I really felt bad about was that one person creates a narrative in a wrong way and that carries through, and nobody even bothers to go back and see the tape, go into details,” he said, clarifying that the question was not asked on behalf of entire Indian tennis community but his ‘haters’,” he added.
“I am ready to walk out even today” – Rohit Rajpal on giving up Davis Cup captaincy
Rohit Rajpal was appointed Indian tennis team’s captain in 2019 after Mahesh Bhupathi (the then captain) refused to travel to Pakistan for the Davis Cup tie because of security concerns. Time and again in his five-year tenure so far, Rajpal has been questioned over his style of captaincy. Reacting to his appointment and the trust his players show in him, the former Indian player said:
“I come again from the batch of players that always said let your racket do the talking. Mahesh Bhupati and Somdev, when they were playing, they themselves recommended my name and put a condition with the AITA that I be the captain.”
“Whether I deserve to be there or not is not a decision I would like to justify. That is in the hands of the Executive Committee, which is supreme. There are enough people who know tennis there. They have been there in sports administration since we were kids so I’m sure they take a balanced decision.”
Rajpal said he won’t wait for the time to be sacked and would himself resign when he feels the need for it.
“The second area is my players. The day I feel that my players feel somebody else will do a better job I am the first one to walk out myself. I don’t need to be told to go. I am ready to walk out even today.”
